Becoming Damned Daybreakers
by redcandle
Summary: Quinn and Rashel join Circle Daybreak and meet people Quinn never expected to meet there.


Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and elements from the Night World series belong to L.J. Smith. No copyright infringement is intended.

Who would ever have thought a lord of the Night World was the head of Circle Daybreak, Quinn mused. But then, who would have thought that he, Quinn, would fall in love with a vampire hunter and go looking to join Circle Daybreak? Truth really was stranger than fiction sometimes.

"Soulmates," Thierry Descoudres said. He looked at them as if he expected to see them holding hands.

Quinn and Rashel were both too good for that. They stood close together, but not too close, not holding hands, not with anyone's arms around the other - nothing that could delay them if they needed to fight. They didn't expect an attack here and now, but their instincts were to be on guard among strangers. Quinn marveled that the universe had given him a soulmate like Rashel. She could more than just take care of herself; she had the highest kill count of any human vampire hunter. He didn't know how he would have borne it if his soulmate had been someone like Dove, someone too gentle for her own good.

"The soulmate principle seems to be asserting itself between humans and Night People a lot lately," Thierry continued. He had a wistful look on his face. Quinn had heard rumors from the low-ranking Daybreakers he'd become acquainted with that their lord was searching for his soulmate. He guessed he was looking at confirmation that the rumors were true.

"My friend Fayth told me that. She said we would meet the others," Rashel said. Quinn had sensed her excitement when they'd been ushered into this meeting room. He knew her mind had gone to the quickest, surest way to kill Thierry, to what a prize it would be to bag a Night World Councilor. She'd changed, she no longer sought to kill every vampire she encountered, but you couldn't change your instincts overnight. Quinn still found himself considering the best way to snare his prey whenever a tasty-looking human walked by.

"You will," Thierry promised. "They've formed an informal group. They provide information that may be very helpful." Helpful to him, in his search for his own soulmate.

"We want to help, any way we can."

_Only a few weeks ago, you would have reported them to the Council or perhaps killed them yourself_, Thierry said to him telepathically.

Quinn flashed him his brilliant smile, the one that disturbed people and made them think he was disturbed. He no longer meant the smile, but he still enjoyed its effect on people. _Then I guess I'm the poster boy for love changing a man._

"You already know some of our other new members," Thiery said aloud. He smiled, as if he was imagining Quinn's reaction. He rose and gracefully gestured for them to do the same. "Would you like to see them now?"

It wasn't really a question. Quinn and Rashel followed Thierry out of the hotel conference room and into a limousine. They made polite chitchat while the limo drove them through Las Vegas to a mansion Quinn was already familiar with. He'd attended a party here less than a year ago. To think he hadn't suspected he was in a hotbed of Daybreaker activity. The Daybreakers were good at covering their tracks, he had to give them that.

Rashel gazed at the mansion coolly, noting the security and the ways in and out, but Quinn knew she was impressed. It made him wish he'd bothered to establish a home of his own over the years, one unconnected to the Redferns. On impulse he plucked one of the black roses that grew around the mansion and offered it to his soulmate.

Rashel accepted the rose with a smile, deftly avoiding the thorns on the stem. Thierry was watching them, but Quinn found he didn't care. "So, who are we meeting?"

"You'll see," Thierry replied.

Quinn did see. He walked into a casual drawing room and saw James Rasmussen, Thea Harman, and Ash Redfern sitting around with a human and a made vampire. James and the made vampire, an elfin redhead, were leaning against each other and very much together. Quinn had always thought James was a bit soft for a vampire, but being soulmates with a made vampire was no cause to become a Daybreaker - unless she'd started out human and he'd illegally turned her.

Ash had sprang out of the armchair he'd been lounging in when he spotted Quinn. "Where's yours?" Quinn asked him. "Did you already change her?" Ash was one of the last vampires Quinn would ever have expected to fall in love with a human - though he supposed Ash would have said the same of him.

"I haven't changed mine and I'm not going to," Ash replied. He gave Rashel a slow, insolent look that Quinn knew was meant to annoy him. "Is it true she's a vampire hunter?"

"It's true," Rashel said, giving Ash a look other vampires must have seen before she'd staked them.

"Congratulations, Quinn," Thea said. She was holding hands with a tall, friendly-looking human boy. "It's nice to meet you, Rashel. I'm Thea and this is my soulmate Eric."

"We're Poppy and James," said the redhead with James.

James tickled his soulmate in the ribs. "James and Poppy."

Quinn glanced around, curious to see what sort of girl the universe had paired with Ash Redfern. "Where is your soulmate, Ash?"

"She's safe, with my sisters."

_She needs some time before she can deal with the sort of person Ash was,_ James told Quinn privately. _You and I have been lucky; please don't needle Ash about it._

Quinn lost the desire to tease Ash. He was very lucky that Rashel had forgiven his long history of evil, that she had her own sins to atone for, that they were seeking a new path together. He could imagine how much it would hurt to see the kind of person you were in your soulmate's eyes and feel her horror, and then be alone.

"Ash Redfern?" Rashel asked.

"Yeah," Quinn said. "An old friend of mine."

"I heard you killed dear old great grand-dad and burned down the enclave," Ash said.

"He probably made it out alive." It'd be easier for them if Hunter Redfern was dead, but Quinn couldn't quite wish for the death of the man he'd regarded as a second father for four centuries, even after learning what kind of person Hunter really was.

"Tell us how you and Quinn met, Rashel," Poppy urged.

Quinn grinned and collapsed onto a sofa, eager to hear how Rashel would describe their first meeting to other happy couples. He'd bet none of their "how we met" stories involved being tied up and held at swordpoint. Not that he'd change anything that had happened since he and Rashel met. Not a heartbeat.


End file.
